<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;line-height:130%"> Freehold, NJ</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By Jordan Okumura<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">04.09.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>To kick off the Spring planting season, New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher is urging residents and businesses to patronize the state’s nurseries and garden centers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/nj040913tn.jpg" alt="images040813" /></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Secretary Fisher visited one of Central Jersey’s largest garden centers and long-time supporter of the Department of Agriculture’s Jersey Grown marketing program, Brock Farms Home and Garden World in Freehold. Brock Farms has been a certified Jersey Grown grower since the inception of the program.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“When planting your spring gardens this year, visit your nearby nursery or garden center and look for Jersey Grown annual bedding plants, perennials, shrubs and trees,” noted Secretary Fisher. “These businesses at the shore and throughout the state are open and here to help during the Superstorm Sandy rebuilding process.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Secretary Fisher also revealed the launch of the new Jersey Grown website which offers a wide range of information about the program and industry, including a search function for nurseries and garden centers according to a press release. There are listings for “choose and cut” Christmas tree farms and gardens or arboretums to visit. The site also offers details on all the Jersey Grown products and information for growers on how to join the program. Helpful information for gardeners, is available and include New Jersey weather details and the plant hardiness zone map, along with a number of links to resources covering everything from where to get soil tested to what plants are deer resistant.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“Use the Jersey Grown website,” said Fisher. “It is the most up-to-date and easy to navigate resource for gardeners who are interested in buying locally grown for their landscaping needs.” </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>“We have been providing the highest quality plant materials and landscape supplies to the horticulture industry for over 50 years,” said Paul Witter, Brock Farms Manager. “Business is improving currently and the weather so far has been cooperative for harvest. Some demand has been seen for plant material due to Sandy, but it’s still early in the recovery process to gauge any impact on the horticulture industry.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.jerseygrown.nj.gov" target="_new"> New Jersey Department of Agriculture</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
